Intentional Leadership — D1, W1, M3 — Excellence

If we begin with the premise that excellence requires superior quality, first we must define what that means…to ourselves and to our customers — both existing and potential, and for each of us this may be very different.

For me, it requires ongoing education and keeping up with the latest developments and thought-leaders in the areas of personal growth, leadership development, team building, and communications. It means being solely focused on the success of my clients. It means being an outstanding listener — which we all know is an active process, requiring my undivided attention and ability to tune out my own thoughts as I listen to what my clients need to discuss. It means functioning intuitively and perceptively to discern what the true issues and challenges are that my clients face. All of these things will allow me to tune-in to my clients and really understand their unique needs. Then I must be able to tailor what I have to offer to be able to actually help them move through, around, or past these obstacles and challenges to perform at higher levels and achieve their goals.

There are a lot of other factors at play here, other actions I need to take, other behaviors I need to demonstrate, as you can imagine. But for purposes of getting your thinking started, I think this is a good beginning place. Clearly, your inputs and outputs are likely very different than mine, but the thought processes around what excellence means and how you demonstrate it are the same.

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. — Vince Lombardi

What edge could your organization gain by committing to, and delivering, superior quality…at a level higher than that of your competitors?

In what areas are you already known for superior quality — at your team’s level or for that of your entire organization?

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Intentional Leadership — Month Three — Excellence

Beginning tomorrow, we will begin Month Three of our Intentional Leadership journey, focused on excellence. According to Merriam-Webster, excellence is the state of being excellent — superior, first class.

In practice, it is the difference between average and exceptional. It is the ability to not only meet, but to exceed, the needs of your customers (both internal and external), consistently delivering superior quality in whatever services or products you provide. This is how you — as an individual or an organization — stand out from the competition. But it doesn’t stop there. Truly excellent performers understand they must embrace a continuous improvement mindset, knowing that excellence is not a destination!

Think for a minute about organizations you would classify as excellent; there is likely one in at least each category of business and industry. In the hotel industry, it’s long been the Ritz Carlton. They strive to give every customer a “Wow” experience every time; pampering customers more than they could have possibly imagined. If you think about it, this philosophy requires everyone in the organization to be in top form at all times, thinking about what more they can do to out-do what they are already doing. It’s an on-going quest, requiring creativity, consideration, intentionality, and close attention to the wants, needs,  and desires of its customers, as well as staying in-tune with the changing of the times in terms of tastes and preferences of luxury travelers.

As we prepare for this next leg of our journey, take a little time to consider these questions:

What level of excellence do you/your organization provides today?

How can you improve the level of customer service you/your organization provides today?

In what areas of your business do you need to be continuously improving to succeed?

How do your team members define and demonstrate excellence in your organization? Does their definition of excellence match yours?

This will be another revealing month of exercises, if you are willing to truly dive deep and examine your thinking and behaviors.

“See” you tomorrow.

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Intentional Leadership — M2 Relationships — Review

We’ve just spent the last four weeks focusing on relationships and the critical role they play in our success as leaders. As the poet John Donne said, “No man is an island entire of itself; every an is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

Each and every one of us is a piece of a bigger whole. While we might like to think we can do it all ourselves, we cannot. And it leads to a very isolated and lonely existence. I speak from experience here, as I think I’ve shared in previous blogs. I used to believe I could be “Superwoman” and do it all myself…but it’s exhausting, disheartening, and discouraging. The results were never as good as they would have been had I involved others. And I often found myself feeling resentful of others for not stepping up and doing their part; why would they, when I made it clear I didn’t need or want them!

We do not live in isolation, but in relationship to others. Real connections with others offer joy and give our lives meaning. They push us to be better than we would be alone, to reach greater heights than we could ever climb alone. Rich and lasting relationships require time, commitment, and self-sacrifice, but their benefits more than compensate for the investment.

If you take some time to think about leaders you respect, you’ll realize they have built rich “relational” bank accounts; they have developed strong relationships with a variety of people and get energy and sustenance from them. When you truly invest in others and nurture your relationships over time, they are sometimes the only stable, consistent thing you can count on in uncertain times.

In fact, when times get tough, experience, hard work, and talent alone will not save you. If you need any kind of external support — a job, money, advice, hope, mentoring, help, or even a client…your extended circle of friends and associates will be the place to turn to meet those needs. However, if you have not invested in relationships, you may find yourself standing alone.

My questions to you are these:

What did you learn about yourself with respect to relationships over the course of this past month?

What are you doing differently as a result?

How are your relationships changing as a result of your taking different actions and demonstrating different behaviors?

How different are your results, with this new perspective?

What will you do to intentionally invest in the lives of others?

On Monday, we will move into Month 3 of this Intentional Leadership Journey, focusing on Excellence. Again, I am sharing this with you as I walk through this same journey, based on the Intentional Leadership booklet I received through the Chick-fil-A Leadercast (created by Giant Impact) that I attended in May 2012.

Let me know how this journey is changing your thinking and your performance.

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